WiiWare Interview: Lit

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We shed some light on the monsters in the darkness.

By Matt Casamassina

If you think Deadly Creatures and House of the Dead: Overkill are the only spooky games coming to Wii, think again. Developer WayForward Technologies, best known for the DS game Contra 4, is hard at work on a new WiiWare game with a few scares of its own. It's called Lit, it's coming out soon, and it's all about dark classrooms and lurking monsters. To find out more, we caught up with the game's creator, Adam Tierney. We've also posted exclusive new screenshots and artwork.

IGN: Tell us about the premise behind LIT. Who do you play as? What's your motivation?

Adam Tierney: In Lit, you play as Jake, who's a typical, apathetic, slightly emo high school kid. He finds himself in what's presumably his high school one day, all the lights are knocked out, and dark creatures are mulling around in the darkness. Step into the darkness and Jake's pulled under, remain in the light and he's safe. Jake's motivation is to reunite with his girlfriend Rachael, who's also lost in the school.

IGN: Jake's girlfriend communicates with him via cell phone, right? Are you using the Wii remote speaker for this at all?

Adam: She actually calls Jake on the school's phone system, which means that to answer her the player must reach the phone before Rachael hangs up. This occurs in about half the levels, and is purely optional for the player. However, the more phone calls the player successfully answers from Rachael, the further they get into her story. The game is kept intentionally sparse on story details to allow players to come to their own conclusions, but Rachael's phonecalls are very intimate and heartfelt. And yes, they play through the Wii Remote's speaker.

IGN: Lit is a game about light and dark. Explain the mechanics.

Adam: In each classroom there's an entrance door, where Jake begins, and an exit door that he must reach. Darkness spans between the two doors, and Jake is pulled under if he walks into the darkness. So to get across the room the player must bridge the darkness by turning on lights. We drew a lot of inspiration from games like "Adventures of Lolo" and Sokoban, but instead of pushing blocks around in this game, Jake turns on lamps, breaks windows, and so on. There are about seven light sources in the game. Once Jake reaches the exit door, he moves onto the next classroom. If he steps into the darkness and is pulled under, no biggie - the player just restarts that level again. The game saves automatically, so it's a very casual progression.

IGN: This is an atmospheric puzzle game. How do the puzzles work?

Adam: What's unique about this game is that it's a traditional puzzle game, wrapped in survival horror play mechanics. When it was announced that this game blended horror and puzzling, I think a lot of people online pictured Resident Evil-style puzzles involving collecting window pieces, rotating levers, etc. But this game is more like a logic puzzle with a freaked out teenager trapped inside of it. The puzzling rules are very rigid and classic, but in addition to those the player has to find ways to keep Jake alive. Later puzzles rely on advanced mobility, so Jake may have to run backwards down a beam of light while tossing cherry bomb elsewhere in the level without stopping. As concepts overlap the game becomes pretty challenging.

IGN: How many puzzles are in the title? About how long would you estimate the game takes to complete?

Adam: The game features 25 puzzle rooms, plus 5 boss rooms. The boss rooms involve puzzling, but the goal is to destroy the boss with light, rather than reach an exit. In addition there are a few unlockables, including a challenge mode that's pretty damn tough (for those who enjoyed our Contra 4 brutality). The game's length will really come down to each player's aptitude for puzzle games. Early rooms might take a few minutes to complete, while later rooms might take half an hour or more. And the bosses are pretty abstract, so half the challenge comes from figuring out how to defeat them.

IGN: How do you control the main character?

Adam:Jake is moved with the Nunchuk attachment's control stick. He can move in any direction at variable speeds based on how far the player tilts the stick. The Wii Remote controls a cursor that affects Jakes point of focus. So Jake can be running in one direction while aiming his flashlight in another.